houstonsemipro Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 Dang! How bad Houston going to get. We're behind on transit, and other stuff the City needs to play catch up on. In a tough break for Metro, 11 News has learned it will not get any federal funds this year. Metro was counting on more than $300 million. What could this mean for the program? Link... http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/kho...ds.b944a23.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talbot Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 Well that's bull. I don't think it can all be Houstons fault, year after year the FTA pulls us down, the should cut us some slack.It seems no matter what we do it isn't good enough in their eyes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbigtex56 Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 Houston's missing out on federal funding for our mass-transit projects - which is why the topic of politics keeps rearing its ugly head on HAIF. If our elected officials had shown more support for METRO's projects instead of thwarting them at every turn, some of that money might be coming our way.Goodbye, tax dollars! Have fun in Dallas, Salt Lake City, Denver and Portland! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidtownCoog Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 Tom Delay sure has not helped one bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 Tom Delay sure has not helped one bit.At the moment, his "help" may be more of a liability than anything else. Frankly, I just think that our transit plan needs to make more sense, like DART does. We just don't have enough residential density yet to justify hundreds of millions of dollars of expenditure, and no amount of bus route bungling can change that simple fact.Take express rail service to both airports and a few key suburban park and ride lots, and keep the University Line in play, and I think we'll have something. Toss the BRT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidtownCoog Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 You are kidding yourself if you think residential density has anything to do with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMUrban Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 I agree with Coog. Dallas has the same density, yet they get the funding. I don't understand how the government rationalizes giving funding to cities with lower populations. Houston has the 4th largest population, yet the Salt Lakes and Portlands as well as lesser communities are receiving funds to upgrade rail? Something needs to change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pineda Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 full report from the FTA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ethanra Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 Does this mean the next rail line to be done by 2012 is on hold? I don't understand how Houston does not get any funding. Our ridership on the main street line has a higher person to mile ratio then other cities, and the number of riders rise every month. How does Dallas get the funding and Houston doesn't? The numbers don't match up.....TheNiche --We just don't have enough residential density yet to justify hundreds of millions of dollars of expenditure, and no amount of bus route bungling can change that simple fact.Your kidding me right? Try to gather facts before posting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westguy Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 Is this because DeLay was just awarded a seat on the Appropriations Committee? Now he controls the money and the House GOP, surely he's using his power to deliver to Houston what it deserves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest danax Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 According to the FTA document posted above, two of the important criteria for financing are Mobility Improvements and Land Use. I'm guessing we rated low in both as the Rail is not going to speed up passenger's trips in the proposed corridors as Metro busses already run there and the Land Use evaluation seems to place a lot of emphasis on pro-transit zoning by the host cities in the proposed corridors, and of course we can only offer a possibility that developers will flock to those areas and build appropriately dense, pedestrian-friendly projects, not virtual guarantees that other cities can by virtue of zoning laws already in place. In other words, Houston is a gamble and, with our tax money being diverted by the billions to support world safety through the elimination of weapons of mass destruction, funds are limited and other cities appear to be better investments. Or, maybe it just means we'll get funded in the later phases. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 (edited) The crime here is not METRO's lack of planning, but the fact that only $1.5 Billion in grants are available for the entire country. With DART getting $700 million of that total (kudos to them), that leaves $800 million for the other 296 million US residents. Given the President's State of the Union goal of reducing Middle East oil imports by 75%, devoting .05% of the $2.77 Trillion budget to mass transit shows where our priorities lie.By way of comparison, road spending is around $200 Billion per year.EDIT: Question. I'm getting the impression that METRO was not funded for the North and Southeast lines, which are not as far along as the University line. Am I correct on this? And is the University line currently funded, say from last year? Edited February 10, 2006 by RedScare Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidtownCoog Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 with our tax money being diverted by the billions to support world safety through the elimination of weapons of mass destructionThat's what's odd. We are one of the biggest winners for Homeland Security funds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Great Hizzy! Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 Be on the lookout for a clarification on this matter at METRO's website. It appears KHOU didn't do the best job of explaining FTA's funding for 2007. Apparently, the sky isn't falling yet.In fact...http://www.ridemetro.org/news/releases/pr50.asp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westguy Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 According to the FTA document posted above, two of the important criteria for financing are Mobility Improvements and Land Use. I'm guessing we rated low in both as the Rail is not going to speed up passenger's trips in the proposed corridors as Metro busses already run there and the Land Use evaluation seems to place a lot of emphasis on pro-transit zoning by the host cities in the proposed corridors, and of course we can only offer a possibility that developers will flock to those areas and build appropriately dense, pedestrian-friendly projects, not virtual guarantees that other cities can by virtue of zoning laws already in place. In other words, Houston is a gamble and, with our tax money being diverted by the billions to support world safety through the elimination of weapons of mass destruction, funds are limited and other cities appear to be better investments. Or, maybe it just means we'll get funded in the later phases. That's not right. When I lived in Dallas (pre-rail) DART's bus service had a pretty poor reputation for reliability. Now they are light years ahead in other types of transit. Houston's Metro has done a better job with what it has, so now it is punished for it? Just do a half-assed job. It's the American way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 They only did not fund the North and Southeast lines, which were not set for funding this year anyway. The University line is the one that METRO is currently working on. This is not a crisis. I'm surprised Channel 11 missed that. I would have expected a screw up like that from Channel 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scarface Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 Be on the lookout for a clarification on this matter at METRO's website. It appears KHOU didn't do the best job of explaining FTA's funding for 2007. Apparently, the sky isn't falling yet.In fact...http://www.ridemetro.org/news/releases/pr50.aspGreat Hizzy, thanks for posting that. You kind of made my day with a little hope because i was really frustrated when i heard that Houston wasn't getting ANY funding. We'll see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VelvetJ Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 I would have expected a screw up like that from Channel 2. chuckling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdnn Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Well you have to remember that many other cities got the edge because they're able to develop plans to have other sources of financing to complement federal funds and this is what the government likes. Miami footed the entire bill for a small segment of the line to get "credit" so that the federal government can "reimburse" them by agreeing to pay for another segment. They do the same thing by getting 25% funding from the county government and 25% funding from the state so that the federal government only needs to foot 50% of the bill.Houston's Metro expected the federal government to foot the entire bill. That was the mistake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Well you have to remember that many other cities got the edge because they're able to develop plans to have other sources of financing to complement federal funds and this is what the government likes. Miami footed the entire bill for a small segment of the line to get "credit" so that the federal government can "reimburse" them by agreeing to pay for another segment. They do the same thing by getting 25% funding from the county government and 25% funding from the state so that the federal government only needs to foot 50% of the bill.Houston's Metro expected the federal government to foot the entire bill. That was the mistake.You are mistaken. METRO built the first segment with no federal dollars. The future sections will be a 50-50 match. The North and Southeast lines are the only ones that got denied, and this was expected, due to low ridership projections. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Voice of University Oaks Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 This is a non-story. Somebody at KHOU doesn't understand the Federal New Starts Process. Here's the deal: projects in the FTA's New Starts process go through several steps before they are funded. First comes Preliminary Engineering, then Final Design, then the Full Funding Grant Agreement, when federal disbursements for construction are actually made. Right now, METRO has two projects (north and southeast corridors) in the process. Both of them are at the Preliminary Engineering level. They're not anywhere CLOSE to being funded yet. As METRO's own press release states, "METRO did not expect the Administration to propose funding amounts for its projects because those projects are not far enough along in the federal review process."This is an example of an overzealous TV station making much ado about nothing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston19514 Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 (edited) This is a non-story. Somebody at KHOU doesn't understand the Federal New Starts Process. Here's the deal: projects in the FTA's New Starts process go through several steps before they are funded. First comes Preliminary Engineering, then Final Design, then the Full Funding Grant Agreement, when federal disbursements for construction are actually made. Right now, METRO has two projects (north and southeast corridors) in the process. Both of them are at the Preliminary Engineering level. They're not anywhere CLOSE to being funded yet. As METRO's own press release states, "METRO did not expect the Administration to propose funding amounts for its projects because those projects are not far enough along in the federal review process."This is an example of an overzealous TV station making much ado about nothing.Thank you for setting the record straight. (BTW, I think you are waaaayyy too kind in your description of the TV station as merely "overzealous.") Edited February 14, 2006 by Houston19514 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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